Don’t pander to demands of vigilantes – Gyampo to Akufo-Addo

A political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has urged President Akufo-Addo to decisively clamp down on the dreaded acts of vigilantism that have engulfed the country following his electoral victory.

“I think it is a problem of party foot soldiers [and] over the years political leaders have not been able to deal with this matter decisively. The foot soldiers tend to stampede them, silencing them [political leaders] while they do their own things.

“It is something that undermines our security as a nation. I will urge this president to do all he can to put his foot down,” Professor Gyampo professed on Morning Starr Tuesday.

Vigilante groups affiliated to the ruling government have been on rampage ever since the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was announced victorious in the 2016 general elections.

They have succeeded in unleashing mayhem on government appointees and other Ghanaians in a bid to register their displeasure over some appointments of the president and demand for jobs.

Groups like Delta and invisible forces have wreaked havoc on several public offices, the most recent was in the Northern region where some members locked up the offices of the Ghana School Feeding Programme.

President Akufo-Addo earlier this month pledged to wipe out the dreaded phenomenon.

“I will not walk the path others trod who found it convenient to turn a blind eye to the criminal misdeeds of their followers and took no action, as it would displease them,” he stated while addressing a meeting of the National House of Chiefs on November 6.

“I think this president has suffered the challenge of vigilantism [which] I think started in 2001 when power changed hands,” Professor Gyampo told host Francis Abban.

According to him, the president is someone who is eager to leave a positive legacy after his term but that could only happen if he decisively annihilates growing acts of vigilantism engulfing the country.

He thus urged him “not to pander unnecessary to the dictates of vigilantism and all that. Otherwise, then be [he] will not able to leave the legacy he desired to leave.”